Key Moments in Trump’s Interview on ‘Fox and Friends,’ With Fact Checks

TRUMP: “They might use it. We pay for it. We pay millions and millions of dollars for planes and all of this. It’s my term. I said I’d like to halt it because it’s bad to be negotiating and doing it. It costs us a lot of money.”

Fact Check: This requires context. It is unclear how a lot the joint navy workouts with South Korea price, however Seoul does shoulder among the monetary burden of the presence of American troops.

Gen. Vincent Okay. Brooks, the highest American commander in South Korea, told Congress in February that South Korea paid $830 million in assist of American troop actions in 2017, and would improve that contribution by 1 % this 12 months.

The New York Times was additionally capable of finding one instance of Mr. Trump using the term “war games” to explain navy drills earlier than he met with Mr. Kim on Tuesday. But Mr. Trump has not been constant in his criticism of the drills. When he visited South Korea in November 2017, he praised naval drills in the Pacific as a exhibiting of “great strength.”

On James Comey, the F.B.I. and the inspector basic’s report

‘The I.G. report totally exonerates’

“It is a very unfair situation, but the I.G. report totally exonerates. I mean, if you look at the results, if you look at the head investigator, is saying we have to stop Trump from becoming president. Well, Trump became president.”

Fact Check: False. The internal report launched by the Justice Department’s inspector basic on Thursday didn’t “exonerate” Mr. Trump. In reality, the 500-page report didn’t study or make conclusions concerning the particular counsel’s investigation into the Trump marketing campaign’s ties to Russia.Texts launched by the inspector basic reveal high F.B.I. agent overseeing the investigation into the Trump marketing campaign had mentioned “we’ll stop” Mr. Trump from turning into president. But the report concluded that there was no proof that the political beliefs of the agent factored into the inquiry.

‘What he did was criminal’

REPORTER: “From what you’ve seen so far, should James Comey be locked up?”

TRUMP: “I would never want to get involved in that. Certainly he, they just seemed like criminal acts to me. What he did was criminal. What he did was a terrible thing to the people. What he did was so bad in terms of our Constitution, in terms of the well-being of our country. What he did was horrible. Should he be locked up? Let somebody make a determination.”

‘a den of thieves’

“They all work for Comey. And Comey knew everything that was going on. You think McCabe didn’t tell him everything? McCabe told him everything. McCabe is up for criminal right now. He is now suing; it is a total mess. They’re all going against each other. No, I think Comey was the ringleader of this whole den of thieves, it was a den of thieves.”

On the Russia probe

‘Manafort had nothing to do with our campaign’

“Manafort has nothing to do with our campaign. I feel a little badly about it. They went back 12 years to get things that he did 12 years ago. Paul Manafort worked for me for a very short period of time. He worked for Ronald Reagan, he worked for Bob Dole, he worked for John McCain or his firm did, he worked for many other Republicans. He worked for me, what, for 49 days or something?”

Fact Check: False. Paul Manafort was very a lot part of the Trump marketing campaign. He joined the marketing campaign on March 28, 2016, was promoted to marketing campaign chairman in May 2016 and resigned on August 19, 2016. That’s a complete of 144 days, not 49 days.

Also opposite to the president’s claims, the charges introduced towards Mr. Manafort by the particular counsel additionally span the time he labored for the Trump marketing campaign. The indictment towards Mr. Manafort and his protégé, Rick Gates, accuses them of serving as unregistered brokers of Ukraine from at the very least 2006 to 2016 and laundered funds by American and international entities “from approximately 2006 through at least 2016.” They additionally made false and deceptive statements to the Justice Department between Nov. 23, 2016, and Feb. 10, 2017.

On households’ being pressured aside on the border and supporting — or not — an immigration plan

‘I hate the children being taken away’

REPORTER: “Mr. President, do you agree with children being taken away —”

TRUMP: “No, I hate it. I hate the children being taken away. The Democrats have to change their law. That’s their law. Quiet, quiet. That’s the Democrats’ law. We can change it tonight. We can change it right now. I will leave here — no, no. You need their votes. You need their votes. The Democrats, all they have to do —”

REPORTER: “You control both chambers of Congress, the Republicans do.”